The visit. from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the school was billed as an opportunity for teachers, school technology and assessment coordinators, and school district administrators to share information about recent challenges related to the online delivery of state assessments.

Are state officials 'that out of touch?'

Before the meeting, Knox County School Board Chairman Patti Bounds said the listening tour could have been a good thing for the state and for teachers, but because the state scheduled it when they did, before schools let out on a Friday afternoon before football, she questioned how it was being perceived.

Gov. Bill Haslam and his team listen to Jihad El-Amin, a math teacher in Knox County, as they began their TN Ready listening tour at Halls Elementary School Friday, August 24, 2018. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

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“I was like, I can’t even imagine what they’re thinking or if they’re that out of touch,” Bounds said. “(Because of their) contract teachers can’t leave their building until 3:15 and for middle and high school, it’s later than that.”

Bounds questioned how the state could rationalize hand-picking the teachers allowed in the meeting Friday if they wanted a true listening tour.

“It did not have to be adversarial, but you just don’t come into a district and give less than 72 hours notice and make demands and inconvenience everyone and claim you want to listen," she said.

State officials said the meeting, the first of six planned around the state, was to collect feedback on how the state can improve delivery of TNReady, which has been plagued by problems the last several years, including server crashes that prevented students all over the state from completing the tests and many from taking them at all.

“We’re not trying to slide anybody (out)," he said. "What I would tell everybody is this, this is not a one-and-done. This is a roundtable discussion with educators who were not chosen by us – district leaders, teacher organizations chose these participants.

"But if you’re not here today or you don’t get to be part of this discussion, there’s lots of other ways to get information to us … this is too important for us not to get right," Haslam continued. "We’re sorry if anybody feels slighted, it’s really just the realities of, on short notice, trying to plan the six (meetings) and they had to plan them around my schedule, which isn’t always the easiest."

In his closing remarks, a reflective Haslam said the best day he has had as governor was when he found out the state was the fastest improving in testing scores. His worst, he said after tearing up, was when the TNReady system continued to fail.

“We have a responsibility to you to get it right,” he said.

Knox County school board member Patti Bounds on Feb. 20, 2015, during its annual legislative luncheon with area legislators at SmartBank branch in Cedar Bluff.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

SPEAK: 'Not clueless... deliberately inconsiderate'

Lauren Sorensen, a second-grade teacher at Halls Elementary and member of Students, Parents, Educators Across Knox County (SPEAK), had posted on the group's Facebook page ahead of the meeting: "Since the Governor and the Ed Commissioner don’t really want to hear from rank and file teachers and parents, they could have had this anywhere but at a school at 3:00 in the afternoon. They are not clueless. They are deliberately inconsiderate."

Knox County Schools Logo(Photo: Picasa)

Sorensen, the former president of the Knox County Education Association and currently an executive board member, also posted: "I doubt it will start on time because of dismissal. If they really wanted to hear from us, they would not choose a day and time when teachers are either still on contract or heading to football games. We CANNOT make this easy on them. Please do everything you can to get there, even if you are late."

A sign made in preparation for a TNReady listening tour with Gov. Bill Haslam at Halls Elementary on Aug. 24, 2018.(Photo: Submitted)

SPEAK bills itself as a "collaborative effort of parents, students, teachers, and other community members working for positive educational change in Knox County through awareness, advocacy, and empowerment. We support the strengthening of public schools through the active involvement of all stakeholders."

Knox County Board of Education member Jennifer Owen posted, in response, that people needed to show up.

About a few-dozen protesters were outside the meeting.

"The media isn't enough. EVERY person here HAS TO explain this to every person you can. Most citizens do not understand how seriously twisted these stories are when they come from the DOE (Department of Education) - and most media will spin it in Haslam's favor," read Owen's post.

Teachers give feedback on what works, doesn't work

Former executive director of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, Wayne Miller, was the meeting’s facilitator. He asked for all comments, especially critical takes on the flailing TNReady. He said it wouldn’t do anyone any good to “leave here all rosy.”

Haslam, McQueen and Miller took notes and asked questions throughout the meeting.

The panel offered feedback and asked questions on a number of topics surrounding the test and the state’s standards as a whole including:

How can teachers motivate students when the score, if the test works at all, won’t affect their grades?

Figuring out how the testing company can improve testing result turnaround times

Figuring out how to get a testing calculator for math tests similar to the one students use every day in class

Figuring out a testing system that doesn’t punish and set back students who are absent for one or more days of testing

A lengthy discussion between the differences of testing with paper and pencil vs. a tablet or testing online and how top students are fine with testing online, but struggling students are not always as keen to do well with the technology – technology literacy is a factor

Figuring out a way for teachers across the state to not receive the brunt of parent complaints and frustration if/when testing fails.

Maryville City Schools' involvement

Smith Jean-Philippe is a special education teacher at Maryville High School and is the president of the Maryville City Schools Teacher Association.

“It’s really, to me, it’s a positive thing,” he said. “It ended up being a really positive thing. Concerns were heard. It was good to kind of hear it from those on the front lines. Nobody withheld anything.”

Jean-Philippe said the state, specifically, has to work on reframing the conversation about the benefits of taking the tests and has to find a way to make the logistics of the state wide test seamless.

Knox County's 'lack of confidence'

At the center of the board's frustrations are how the state has handled the portfolio evaluation process for pre-K and kindergarten teachers and how the state Department of Education, from the board's vantage point, routinely evades responsibility when its efforts fail.

The board's grievances include the assertion that the standards featured in the portfolios are inappropriate for young children and the platform through which the portfolios are uploaded and processed has continually changed – three times in the past three years.

A sign made in preparation for a TNReady listening tour with Gov. Bill Haslam at Halls Elementary on Aug. 24, 2018.(Photo: Submitted)

Board members have asked for the state to put a moratorium on the system.

The superintendents of the state's two largest districts, Metro Nashville Public Schools and Shelby County Schools, in recent weeks penned their own letters to Haslam and McQueen taking a stance of "no confidence" in TNReady after a slew of problems. The superintendents are taking it a step further, calling for a pause on testing.

McQueen responded with a letter defending state testing, citing that "both state and federal law require an annual statewide assessment" and that doing away with testing for an academic year would be illegal and conflict with the state's values.